Amalgamating apparatus.



No. 702,479. Patented June l0, I902.

. M. BLDUME.

AMALGAMATING APPARATUS. (Application filed May 28, 1898.)

(No Model.)

TH: NORRIS PETER$ co, PnoTu-umo. WASHINGTON, u. .7.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARGUERITE BLOUME, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

AMALGAMATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 702,179, dated June10,1902. Application filed May 28, 1898. Eerial No. 682,005. (NomodelbTo a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARGUERITE BLOUME, a citizen of the Republic ofFrance, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Amalgamating Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to the extraction of gold or otheramalgamable metals, the particular object being to provide anamalgamating apparatus whichwillallow of the total extraction of themetal from the ore by obtaining a perfect contact between the said metaland the mercury.

With the apparatus now employed the principal causes of losses are dueto the theft of amalgam, the carrying away of the floating gold, and thedefective contact between the ore and mercury. Indeed it is almostimpossible to prevent the theft of amalgam with the actual processes ofextraction, and the fine gold held in suspension in the water is carriedaway by the current or remains oh the surface or in the interior of theparticles of rock which cannot practically be reduced below a certaindimension if we wish to treat.

the tailings by the cyanid process with success after amalgamation.Moreover, the particles of gold which are covered with a preservinglayer of any matter are not indirect contact with the mercury, andconsequently, not being amalgamated, are carried away with the current.

With my apparatus the ore rises under pres sure suitably crushed, drawnby any mechanical agentfor instance, water--through a column or a sheetof mercury, so as to reduce the column of water carrying the ore to thinstrata, and thus secure a perfect contact between the mercury and theore. Moreover, to secure a still better intimate contact the column ofmercury is provided with suitable contrivances intended to oppose thecurrent carrying the ore to make it travel transversely in the mercuryto cause the substances carried away to change position constantly, tostrike and rub against each other under pressure, also against theobstacles which are placed for this purpose.

My invention does away with all ulterior chemical dressing of the ore,the amalgama- In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a broken transversesection of the amalgamator, and Fig. 2 is a broken front view of one ofthe gratings.

The amalgamator is composed, essentially, of a rectangular tank A, ofwhich the sides are of sheet-iron, while the top, the ends, and thebottom are of strong pieces of wood G and C, separated from oneanotherby vertical sheetiron partitions D, which divide the tank intoseveral transverse compartments. Each of these main compartments issubdivided into three compartments by the vertical partitions E, whichare connected by bolts to the sides. of the tank A, but do notrise ashigh as this latter and leave a free passage between their lower partand the bottom of the tank. The central compartment is closed at itsupper part by the piece of wood G and communicates at its lower partwith the two lateral compartments, in which the cast-iron gratings H arearranged, the angular bars a of which are arranged in such a way as toconstitute a narrow vertical zigzag conduit, as shown in Fig. 1. Thebars a have their extremities connected by the two uprights b, which arecrossed at their upper part by a rod 2, which serves as a handle tofacilitate the fixing or the removal of the grating, Fig. 2. To increasethe action of the gratings, these latter could be covered with a roughand hard body, such as quartz oremery, or they could even be madeentirely ofemery.

Each cover G of the compartments F is provided with two tubes I J, thefirst serving for outlet of the air and the second for the introductionof the water. These tubes merespectively provided with cocks f and d andthe tubes J are branched on the common conduit K, which through the mainpipe L receives the water under pressure, in which the ore is suspended.Each compartment, comprising a central compartment F and two lateralcompartments with gratings, constitutes an element the lower part ofwhich communicates by a tube M with a main pipe N, closed at one of itsextremities and provided with a flowing-cock O, as Well as a branch P,which through a two-way cock Q can communicate with the receivers R R,serving as reservoirs for the overflow of mercury. In these reservoirstwo floating plates S S are placed, provided with vertical index-rods TT, which pass freely through the covers of the receivers R R and movevertically in front of the hands V V, fixed on the covers. The cover Gof the central element is traversed by a tube g, of porcelain or anyother insulating material, through which passes a metallic rod h,provided with a screw at its upper extremity and to the lower extremityof which a sheet of lead 2' is suspended, the said piece of lead throughthe intermediary of the rod 7t and of a conductor being electricallyconnected withthe positive pole of any electric source the negative poleof which communicates with one of the metallic sides of the tank A by aconductor secured to this latter by means of a screw 7t.

This apparatus works as follows: The main pipeL being previouslyconnected with a suitable forcingpump, mercury is introduced through oneof the tubes I in a sufficient quantity to fill the free spaces of thegratings and the bottoms of the elements to a thickness of about onecentimeter. The ore, crushed as fine as possible and sifted, is thenforced into the apparatus through the pipes J with about ten times itsweight of water. It follows that under the pressure of this liquid,which soon fills all the compartments F, the mercury rises in thegratings H and that all the excess falls into one of the receivers R Rand flows through the waste-cock until the float S or S descends againto the lower part of the corresponding receiver and the zero of the rodT or T corresponds with the hand V or V. Duringthe filling the tubes Iremain open to allow the disengaging of the air contained in theapparatus; but as soon as the water ascends to the upper part of thesetubes the cocks are closed and the water produces its whole action onthe columns of mercury. The Water containing the substances to bedressed passing through the tubes is completely emptied through theoutlet 0, and the mercury is filtered to rid it of the gold which itcontains, and said mercury is then put back into the apparatus forreuse.

With this apparatus all the joints are made watertight by means ofrubber sheets or other suitable material. Moreover, all the cooksserving for discharging the mercury are provided with any safetycontrivances closed by means of padlocks, with the object ofpreventing'the theft of amalgam; The water carrying away the matters tobe dressed instead of getting at the same time into all the elements andpassing simultaneously through all the columns of mercury may also beintroduced only into the central compartment, where the Water is dividedinto two currents, one of which passes into the columns of mercury ofthe right element and the other into that of the left element. Thecarrying away of the matters to be dressed may alsobe attained by meansof compressed air or steam.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patcut, is

l. The combination with a tank having sheet-iron sides, of verticalsheet-iron partitions arranged in the tank and dividing the same into aseries of main compartments,vertical partitions E therein, dividing eachmain compartment into three compartmentsa central compartment andlateral compart ments, the bottom of the partitions E not reaching thebottom of the compartments whereby to afford communication between thelateral compartments and the central compartment, and each of saidcentral compartments being closed at the top, an air-outlet pipe and aWater-inlet pipe for each central compartment and a reservoir for theoverflow of mercury in communication with each series of compartments.

2. The combination with a tank having ICO sheet-iron sides, of verticalsheet-iron partitions arranged in the tank and dividing the same into aseries of main compartments, vertical partitions dividing each maincompartment into three compartmentsa central compartment and lateralcompartments, the bottom of the partitions E not reaching the bottom ofthe compartments whereby to afiord communication between the lateralcompartments and the central compartment, and each of said centralcompartments being closed at the top, an air-outlet pipe and aWater-inlet pipe for each central compartment, and a reservoir for theoverflow of mercury in communication with each series of compartments,and a grating arranged in each lateral com .partment, and eachcomprising angular bars arranged in staggered relation to each other toform a vertical zigzag fluid-passage.

* 3. An amalgamator comprising atank, vertical partitions dividing itinto main compartments, partitions subdividing the said compartmentsinto three other compartments communicating at their lower parts, thecentral compartment of each element being closed at its upper part, anevacuating-tube for the air and an inlet-tube for the substance to bedressed for the said central compartments, a grating in each of thelateral compartments and comprising angular bars arranged in staggeredrelation to each other to form a vertical zigzag conduit, a reservoiradapted to receive the excess of mercury according to the production ofthe amalgam, andtubes placing the central lateral compartments of themain compartments in communication With the reservoir, substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

4. The-combinationwith a tank, of vertical partitions arranged in thelatter and dividing the same into a series of compartments, each seriescomprising a central compartment and lateral compartments communicatingwith the central compartment, each of the central compartments beingclosed at the top, an air- 1

